On-Line Missions

[boomerlu]

+1 

One comment on AI Fighters: having flown in offline missions a bit, the AI dogfighting is not up to par. They aren't good shots and the fights usually devolve into low/slow turn fests very quickly.

[jimson]

I think this idea would be better suited to an automated day/night scenario arena, with a slot system like Denholm referred to.

Whether for that or just to populate an existing arena it would appear that while some additional development would be necessary, the basic concept already exists.

+1  

One comment on AI Fighters: having flown in offline missions a bit, the AI dogfighting is not up to par. They aren't good shots and the fights usually devolve into low/slow turn fests very quickly.

That is certainly true but not a deal breaker for me. I'd rather fly an historical mission where some of the planes were AI, rather than what I can fly now, which is zero.

The point is to have AI augment, not replace humans, and provide some action that would draw in real players.

[Anaxogoras]

I would really want to see the AI improved before AI aircraft were added to arenas.  Right now, I'd rate the AI in Aces high a 2 out of 10, or sub-retarded.  I'd give the Il-2 AI a 4 out of 10, for normal retardation.  I've tried some of the user created AI mods for Il-2 and they might bump that score up to 4.5.

The only flight sim I've seen recently with AI that has a clue in a dogfight is Falcon 4 AF.  I might even give their AI an 8.

[jimson]

I would really want to see the AI improved before AI aircraft were added to arenas. 

That would be ideal, but as someone who can rarely attend any of the special events I'd take what I could get for historical gameplay.

[Mister Fork]

Jimson - so what you're saying that you'd spend time in the AvA becuase we would run these missions similiar to the SEA because it's run 24/7?

[jimson]

Likely.

What drew me to this game was the sense of history, especially the defunct Combat Tour concept, with that level of immersion, the fantasy experience of being a WWII combat pilot.

I would likely fly anywhere that had a more historical feel. The M/A with spit v spit, corsair v mustang just loses something for me personally.

I am in a uniquely crappy position. I cannot play when the majority of players are online. My squad flys FSO, but I work 2nd shift Wed thru Sat in a western time zone.

Sunday is the only day off me and my wife share, so it's almost impossible for me to play in any of the special events. Even the current efforts to revive AVA are happening when I am unavailable.

I don't know if this is the right idea for AvA or if it would be better suited to a new automated SEA.

I see the AI as an augmentation, something to provide more action so people would want to participate.
The key is that it draws players, otherwise I could just fly offline.

24/7 might be overkill, I don't know if it would have any support during graveyard shift, but throughout the day, mornings, afternoons and night.

From this thread...
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,274933.0.html



I love FSO and snapshots but rarely get to play them because of work schedule, so I am still wishing for..........

An arena that only runs scenario missions.

You enter the arena, read the mission briefing and choose a side, axis or allies.

You select one of the (enabled for that mission) planes/vehicles and at mission launch time, you are spawned to the correct field and runway with the correct loadout.

Simple enough for walk-ons.

The missions run several times a day and the scenario changes periodically.

For example, one might be "Escorted Bomber Raid into Germany" the next, cv based "Battle of Midway" and the next "Battle of Britain."

The missions use airspawns to reduce time to target and after the alotted time runs out, you are warped back to base to land your kills and the mission wraps up in time for the next one to start.

With Combat Tour on hold/cancelled, this could offer a daily dose of historical game play, and provide an alternative, an hour long break from the spit vs spit, corsair vs mustang M/A horde fest.

Especially nice for those who can't attend FSO or any of the other scheduled events.

I don't know hard it would be to do something like this, but it seems to me that a scenario arena could be completely automated with the programming the game has already, by adapting the offline mission editor, the mission creator in the M/A, ENY or arena cap balancing adapted for side balancing, etc.